Potent Storm Dampens Region : Weather: More than an inch falls near coast, with totals decreasing as the rain moves east. More precipitation is due.

A potent storm from the Gulf of Alaska swept into Ventura County on Tuesday, lashing huge waves against Ventura’s damaged pier, causing minor street flooding in El Rio and Oxnard, and sending homeowners in Newbury Park, Lake Sherwood and other burn areas scurrying for mudslide protection.

More than an inch of rain fell in some coastal areas by nightfall. Rain totals dropped sharply as the storm moved east, leaving half an inch in Thousand Oaks and less than a third of an inch in Simi Valley.

But those totals could double before the complex weather system moves out of the region late Thursday, forecasters said.

Tuesday’s rain, the first of three waves that will cross Southern California, struck about 2 a.m. and, by dawn, steady rainfall in coastal areas was accompanied by a heavy frosting of snow in the mountains above Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Snow levels were around 6,000 feet Tuesday, but are expected to drop to 3,000 feet today as a second, colder storm moves through the county, said Stuart Seto, spokesman with the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

In Ventura County, rain-slick roadways and back-to-work traffic after an extended holiday weekend slowed Tuesday’s morning commute, but no serious traffic accidents were reported, authorities said.

Rising waters in El Rio caused a sewage line to back up in one family’s home, temporarily displacing the residents, officials said. The Red Cross put up the adult and four children, whose names were not available, at a nearby motel until their home can be cleaned, officials said.

Minor street flooding was reported in Oxnard’s Mandalay Bay neighborhood as well, but little other damage occurred as a result of the storm, officials said.

Waves as high as 15 feet pounded the Ventura Pier early Tuesday, but did not knock loose any more pilings, said John Betonte, the city’s maintenance manager. Heavy surf in recent days tore 14 wooden supports from beneath the pier and damaged another four, he said.

Replacement supports for 12 of the pilings are being sent from Santa Barbara, Betonte said. Another pole that washed up onto the beach is long and sturdy enough to be reused, he said.

Santa Barbara city officials agreed to let Ventura use the pilings on condition that Ventura officials order replacements that will be sent to Santa Barbara, Betonte said. The four damaged supports will be strengthened with metal bands, he said.

Wave swells subsided enough Tuesday to allow workers to begin driving in new supports for the pier, he said. Work will continue today, through the rain if necessary, so the pier can be reopened within three weeks, Betonte said.

A second band of showers was expected to begin overnight, followed closely by a third wave of rain late this afternoon, Seto said. Rainfall amounts could total from one to two inches along the coast and two to three inches in the mountains, he said.

“We won’t see much of a break at all,” Seto said.

Today’s colder storm will bring up to a foot of new snow in the mountains above Ventura County, he said.

Heavy flooding is not expected because the parched ground can soak up to five inches of water before problems develop, said Dolores Taylor, a senior engineer in the county’s Flood Control Department.

However, residents in Newbury Park, Lake Sherwood and other foothill communities, whose homes sit below mountains denuded by wildfires in the fall of 1993, should take precautions against possible mudslides and flash floods, she said.

Meteorologists said there may be downpours before the storm activity ends.

“Whenever I see the words high intensity , I get goose bumps,” Taylor said. “Heavy rains can move a lot of mud in a short time.”

Residents who have experienced flooding in the past should watch the storm closely and sandbag if water starts rising around their property, Taylor advised. Fire departments near fire-scarred areas can assist with sandbags and flood diversion methods, she said.

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County Rainfall Here are rainfall figures from the Ventura County Flood Control Department for the 24-hour period ending at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Oct. 1 is the beginning of the official rain year.

Rainfall Rainfall Normal rainfall Location last 24 hours since Oct. 1 to date Camarillo 0.42 3.10 4.61 Casitas Dam 0.47 4.25 7.60 El Rio 1.08 4.38 4.78 Fillmore 0.87 4.36 6.53 Moorpark 0.25 3.09 4.80 Ojai 0.62 3.29 6.67 Upper Ojai 0.49 5.04 7.08 Oxnard 0.83 3.75 4.57 Piru 0.34 3.46 5.41 Santa Paula 0.77 3.98 5.88 Simi Valley 0.31 2.42 4.56 Thousand Oaks 0.50 2.91 4.86 Ventura Govt. Center 0.92 3.85 5.08